Sharing A Bit of Good News.....

Dear Readers, I hope this Monday finds you all happy, healthy, and hopefully warm! It is bone chilling cold here at the Quill and I dread each trek beyond my door. My sidekick, Sophie, and I are huddled together under a blanket enjoying a little snuggle time. Things have been quite busy here over the past few days and I wanted to share a bit of news with all of you who so graciously cheer me on and encourage me.

On Friday afternoon I was doing a little blog browsing and stopped by one of my favorite sites, Cheaper by the Half Dozen, and saw that there was a writing contest going on over at Lysa TerKeurst site, so I thought I'd pop over there to see what it was all about. The contest was for Proverbs 31 Ministries. The winner would be published in their magazine. The deadline was for that day. I started to dismiss it by thinking that it was too late to get an entry in but I just felt a nudge from the Lord to do it.

I picked out a post and re-posted it with all your comments of stepping out swirling in my mind and knowing that Vee had dusted of her pom-poms and was cheering me on and Cindy had her fingers crossed, which would probably prevent her from crafting, that I'd better do it. I totally expected nothing to come of it but it felt good to obey and to get out of my comfort zone, that was reward enough for me.

I was up before sun up as the mysterious malady that has been plaguing me decided that I did not need to sleep but be painfully miserable at the hour of 4:00 A.M. I shuffled to the kitchen to put the kettle on and turned on my computer to send a message to my cousin. I clicked over to my blog and found a comment telling me congratulations. "What for?" my foggy brain asked. Then it dawned on me, the contest. "Nah! That can't be it." I thought to myself. After spending the weekend reading all the entries and having my heart filled by so many wonderful writers, I had chosen a favorite and was rooting for her and thought my chances were slim to none.

I thought I'd go check anyway and got the shock of my life, I along with two other entrants had won, plus there were four honorable mention winners! Well, I tend to get a little over excited some times and I ran through the house, barreled through the bedroom door and pounced on the bed beside my sleeping husband who popped straight up into sitting position and wondered what was going on. I told him I won, he congratulated me, plopped back down and looked over at the clock, sighing that he could sleep some more and promptly began to snore! OK, so much for that reaction. I try again with darling daughter. I burst into her room and hop on the bed saying, "Guess what? Guess What?" when she almost slugs me for scaring the bejeebers out of her and mumbles, "Uh huh, that's great." and pulls the covers over her head. My little sidekick, Sophie, is excited because I am excited and she wants to run around the house too and celebrate whatever it is I am celebrating and I about got her too excited and we barely made it out the door before she had an accident on the floor! Well at least she was happy for me!

I am very excited to see where the Lord is leading me in this new journey and thankful for each experience He has given me to share through writing. My heartfelt thanks goes out to each of you who pray for and encourage me, in the words of an old song, "I'm drinkin' from my saucer, cause my cup done overflowed!" I feel very humbled and honored and I ask you to visit each of these ladies and assure you that you will be blessed. Congratulations to each one!

The winners:

Jesus at McDonalds by Carol Hatcher

The Determined Life by Amy Brooke

A Cup of Encouragement by Miss Sandy

Honorable Mention:

The Masterpiece by Sumi

No More Tears for Fears - Marriage as a Three-cord Strand by Linda

Graceful by DeeDee

Laying Down by Jess

A complete list of all the entries with links can be found on Lysa's blog here.

I hope each of you, my dear friends, has a wonderful day!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy